the water fountain
three stories up is
always exactly
the right temperature you need to cool
the burnt sores on the tip
of your tongue.

outside, again, twenty minutes later this time
in looser pants, in softer slippers
beyond the frosted door
i notice its not so cold,
so cold anymore.
past chokidaar drooping over glowing coals
never stopped to greet him before
and im suddenly
not thinking about anything in particular
anymore
alseep, in the chair,
bent over, sitting there thats not
its not fair, somehow..
past lovers linked in their silent
soft talk, statues of flesh and bone
and if the world had a lover she too would
live on love alone...
devdaas couldve have been so much better, suddenly
aesthetic erotica, romanticised
invaded by alienation-
we're all just stupid painted a shade of wise
we're all just colourblind idiots in disguise
walking out into the not-cold night air
in my chappals, past the people
swimming there
through the haunted stillness of silent rain
past the snores of tired sleepers
the lovers and the gatekeepers
glittering earth, glistening creepers
beneath my heavy step:
my ghost will lead my shadow
across the cobbled floor-
its not so cold,
(i notice)
now,
not so cold
anymore.

Beyond the door,
There's peace I'm sure,
And I know there'll be no more
Tears in heaven.

'Cause I know I don't belong... Here in heaven.

-Eric Clapton, Tears in Heaven

Sadomasochistic tendencies often drive people like me to read things like this... that and evil Communication Skills teachers who one veiws with a mixture of pity and disgust, because they chose to make livelihoods out of enforcing political correctness on the world.

"The popular MIT economist Paul Krugman tells the story of Smokey Mountain, a huge landfill outside of Manila and "a popular media symbol of Third World poverty." Hundreds of families chose to live on the dump, collecting scrap metal and other recyclables, subjecting themselves to the stench and unhealthy air in return for the higher wages they were offered.

This image is both upsetting and frightening. As Krugman points out, however, media stories like Smokey Mountain mask something even more unsettling - what must the less-documented rural poverty be like that families actually choose to escape by moving to a waste dump?

I'm sure Hausman would agree with me that almost all U.S. jobs are better than those offered by Smokey Mountain or by sneaker sweatshops. We are (rightly) appalled at these working conditions, but most of us do not get to see the alternatives these workers face. Sadly, it is usually unemployment and starvation. Trade may create unappealing jobs for developing countries, but the fact that these jobs are freely filled reveals that bad jobs are better than no jobs for these workers."

yeah, sure... we've made the world so that some people eat cake, and some people eat shit. if they didnt eat shit, they would starve and die. so, like... shits not that bad, i guess....

the stupid, stupid commercialisation of Karachi culture... its expos, franchises, chains, Zaibunissas and Zamzamas, designers, divas and demons. and now, the latest... The Jewel in the Crown. how incrediblely stupid are we in the clutches of the second Imperialism? have we no dignity? its bad enough that this land was exploited once, must we bend over and say "fuck me again, your royal highness!"?! besides, we were never the jewel. we were the fly in the royal ointment... with all the Hur rebellions and riots and refusals to be ruled. now thats something worth celebrating....
oh yes jolly good ol boy lets relive the days of the good ol Raj before those damned sepoys had that insolent mutiny of theirs, wot? a cup of tea on the good ol' Lady Lloyd pier would hit the spot, eh? do bring the memsahib, if shes done fucking the native boys. such a feather in our caps, this place... pity to let it all go, really. they do have the best tea. bloody barabarians... after all we've done for them, really! this is no place for gentlemen.
there are people in london who blanch- and rightfully so- at the mere mention of colonialism. there are British journalists who have apologised to the "Orient" that the west created and destroyed. and you... you stupid, senseless IDIOTS are celebrating the Raj?!?!